Improvement in corsets



cLAnA P. CLARK.

orsets.

Patented Oct. 277,'1874.

UNIT1in4 STATES CLARA CLARK, OF WAEFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPRovEMENT IN coRsETs.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 156,278, dated October 27, 1874; application filed Augustr, 1874.

To all whom it may concer/n.'

Be it known that I, CLARA P. CLARK, of

Wakefield, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Corsets, of which the following is a specification:

Figure l ofthe accompanying drawings is a front view of my improved corset. Figs. 2, 3, and 4 are parts, indetail, of patterns of the busts of the same.

The object of the present invention is to provide a corset which shall be more comfortable for and advantageous to the health of its wearer than an ordinarily-constructed corset 5 and to eifect these ends my improvements consist in a corset having its busts or bosoms formed of such pattern as to retain the desired shape without the use of bones, wire, or other of the ordinary means used to shape the busts, and having its back extended upward to form a shoulder-brace and support, all of which I will now proceed to describe.

In the drawings, A represents a corset formed in two sections laced at the back, or otherwise connected, to be loosened or tightened, and hooked, or otherwise arranged to be readily attached and detached at the front, or made, as preferred, to be readily adjusted to or removed from the person, and loosened and tightened as desired.` Each section is formed of three main pieces, B C D, cut in the patterns, shown by Figs. 2, 3, and 4, which pat terns, when sewn together, as shown in Fig. 1, form the bosoms or breast portion of the corset, so as to retain its desired shape without the use of bones, wires, or other ordinary stift'ening material heretofore required, thus allowing the natural or artificial breasts to rest or be comfortably supported and protected from any of the usual injurious pressure against them of the bones or ordinary hard stiffening of corset bosoms. rIhe front of cach section of the corset is cut in the pattern shown at B, and a middle piece, cut in the pattern C, is sewn to its curved portion and to the curved forward portion of a rear piece cut in the pattern D.

o The corset is formed with suitable gores,

gussets, and otherwise shaped and finished as usual, except, in the present instance, the back of the corset is made high, and extended upward on each section in one piece, as at E, to form a shoulder-brace, the brace-pieces E crossing each other, as at a, and connecting, by an elastic, b, with forward shoulder-straps E', or the brace-pieces E may be narrowed and extended inone piece to form the shoulder-straps.

The strap ends of the braces are connected with the front of the corset by ribbons tied through eyelets, or may be otherwise held thereto, so as to admit the ready adjustment of, to regulate the length and allow for the stretching and wear of, the straps.

By forming a corset high in the back, and extending the back pieces to form braces connecting` with or forming shoulder-straps, as described and shown, it will be readily seen, by reference to the drawings, without further explanation, that a support is given to the shoulders ofthe wearer, and at the same time the corset is supported so as to sustain the weight of the wearers skirts, and prevent its bearing on her hips.

The formation ofthe brace and strap, as herein described, serves to keep the strap up on the shoulders and obviates the inconvenience and annoyance caused by the slipping down of the shoulder-straps, as ordinarily arranged on a corset.

Any corset may be formed with the shoulder brace and support apart from the boneless bosoms, or formed with the boneless bosoms without the brace and support 5 but, by the combination of the two improvements, the bosom portion of the corset is held up, and forms a better support for the breasts than when the corset is supported on the hips, as will be evident. Moreover, a simple, economical, comfortable, and healthful corset is produced whose advantages are acknowledged by many who have experienced them, and which will bel obvious at once to any one acquainted with Vthe inconvenience, discomfort, and illhealth occasioned by the wearin g of corsets as ordinarily constructed.

Having thus described my improvements, In testimony whereof I have signed my what I claim as my invention, and desire to name to this specification in the presence of have secured to me by Letters Patent, is two subscribing witnesses.

' A corset having the rear portion of each half-section extended obliquely upward to CLARA P. CLARK. form straps a E', which cross each other and pass over opposite shoulders to the front of Witnesses: y

the corset, where they are fastened, substan- CARROLL D. WRIGHT,

tiztlly as shown and described. SAML. M. BARTON. 

